Zelda Demo at E3 Is Not What Zelda on Wii U Will Look Like

Remember Nintendo's Wii U reveal at E3? You know how awesome it was seeing the clip of the HD Zelda game, where Link was battling a gorgeously nasty spider that was way bigger than him? According to Nintendo's Yoshiaki Koizumi, that was simply press footage and not indicative of what gamers can expect from Zelda when it launches on the Wii U.

The Zelda footage showcased during the E3 presser, said the designer, was meant to show off what the Wii U could do from a technical standpoint. "You probably remember that when we introduced the GameCube, we showed a somewhat realistic Zelda demo," Koizumi told Wired. "And what we actually created was the cel-shaded Wind Waker. So when we show a graphic demo, people think, 'Oh, this is what the next Zelda will look like,' but that's not necessarily the case."

In addition to showing off what an HD Zelda game could look like, the demo at E3 was also designed to show what types of features the controller could allow in a Zelda game. I was fairly impressed by the inventory screen being right on the controller, as it would prevent the constant pausing that is sometimes necessary when switching between items. I think this is something plenty of Zelda fans would enjoy, as well.

When Nintendo showed off the Wii U and that snazzy Zelda tech demo, I think the majority of gamers took it as just that---a tech demo. Sure, we all think it would be cool if the next Hyrulian adventure looked the way the demo did, but Nintendo has taken the franchise in a more art-driven direction over the past few years. Realistically, we'll probably get Zelda HD somewhere down the road, but as far as the E3 tech demo goes, I think we can all expect something completely different in the distant future.

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David Sanchez
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